Laurie Burgess


Laurie E. Burgess is an American museum professional,
archaeologist, and
repatriation expert specializing in
glass trade beads and coffin hardware. She was the Co-Chair of the Department of Anthropology
and developed an international
repatriation program within the
Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History.
WWW naturalhistory.si.edu/sta...

Education

Burgess was educated at the University of
Maryland, where she
received a MS in Anthropology, and at Pennsylvania State University, where she
received a BA in English in 1985; in 2022, she was awarded an Outstanding Scholar Alumni
Mentor Award for her impact on young scholars.

Research

Her research focuses on historic North American material culture, and in
particular historic mortuary practices, coffin
hardware, and glass
trade beads as used for dating burials, human remains, and museum collections in
anthropology. With Harold Mytum, she edited a scholarly monograph on mortuary culture as found in the study of coffins and
burial vaults.

Work

While Co-Chair of the Department of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History, Burgess
led a program for international repatriation of human remains. She represented the
museum on international repatriation and human remains issues featured in Pulitzer-nominated
journalistic coverage.
Burgess served as an expert archaeologist, alongside noted
forensic anthropologist Doug Owsley,
on preservation efforts at the United States’ Congressional Cemetery on Capitol Hill,
when remains were excavated from and then returned to 19th-century burial vaults slated for restoration. For this project, Burgess
“worked through layers of casket debris, bones, dirt and twigs to date and identify
Washington’s early residents. Burgess dates the remains via coffin styles and
ornamentation, as well as materials such as buttons and pins from clothing that has
long since turned to dust."

Service

Burgess served as president of the Council for Maryland Archaeology, on an national advisory board
for the development of the
research data management tool
DMPTool, and has held multiple leadership roles
in the Society of Bead Researchers.

Works

Burgess’ scholarly publications include:

Books

  • Mytum, Harold C. and Burgess, Laurie E., editors. 2018. "Death Across Oceans: Archaeology of Coffins and Vaults in Britain, America, and Australia". Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press
  • Burgess, Laurie E. and Billeck, William T. 2004. "Assessment of a Brass Patu Traded by Captain Cook in 1778 and an Anthropomorphic Stone Carving From Northeast Oregon in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution". Washington, DC: Repatriation Office
  • Owsley, Douglas W., Hanna, W. F., Richardson, M. L., and Burgess, Laurie E. 2003. "Bioarcheological and Geophysical Investigation of Unmarked Civil War Burials in the Soldiers Plot". ASV Special Publication No. 41, Spectrum Press

Selected Book Chapters

  • Burgess, Laurie E. and Owsley, Douglas. 2018. "Death, Dogs, and Monuments: Recent Research at Washington’s Congressional Cemetery." In Death Across Oceans: Archaeology of Coffins and Vaults in Britain, America, and Australia. Mytum, Harold C. and Burgess, Laurie E., editors. 249–262. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. In Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge.
  • Owsley, Douglas W., Bruwelheide, Karin S., and Burgess, Laurie E. 2008. "Late-Nineteenth-Century Crow Mummies from Montana." In Skeletal Biology and Bioarchaeology of the Northwestern Plains. Gill, George W. and Weathermon, Rick L., editors. 77–93. Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press.
  • Owsley, Douglas W., Bruwelheide, Karin S., Burgess, Laurie E., and Billeck, William T. 2007. "Human Finger and Hand Bone Necklaces from the Plains and Great Basin." In The Taking and Displaying of Human Body Parts as Trophies by Amerindians. Chacon, Richard J. and Dye, David H., editors. 124–166. New York: Springer.
  • Burgess, Laurie E. 2001. "Buried in the Rose Garden: Levels of Meaning at Arlington Cemetery and the Robert E. Lee Memorial." In Myth, Memory and the Making of the American Landscape. Shackel, Paul, editor. 159–176. Gainesville: University Press of Florida

Selected Articles

  • Minor, Rick, and Laurie E. Burgess. "Chinookan survival and persistence on the Lower Columbia: the view from the Kathlamet Village." Historical Archaeology 43 : 97-114.
  • Burgess, Laurie E., and Laure Dussubieux. "Chemical composition of late 18th-and 19th-century glass beads from western North America: clues to sourcing beads." BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 19.1 : 58-73.
  • Owsley, Douglas W., Bruwelheide, Karin S., Cartmell, L. W., Burgess, Laurie E., Foote, S. C., and Fielder, N. 2006. "The Man in the Iron Coffin: An Interdisciplinary Effort to Name the Past." Historical Archaeology, 40, 89–108.